60 GERMINATION.CA JULY 2017 TheHeadlinesBusiness | People | Policy | Product | Research Submissions welcome: news@issuesink.com POLICY CFIA MOVES TO MODERNIZE SEED REGULATIONS The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has offi- cially opened the door to a modernization of Canada’s regulations concerning seed. On its website March 31, CFIA said: “These proposed amendments would modern- ize the Seeds Regulations in order to reduce overlap and redundancy, increase responsiveness to industry changes, address gaps, weaknesses and inconsistencies, and pro- vide clarity and flexibility to affected regulated parties for seeds imported, conditioned, stored, tested, labeled, exported and sold in Canada.” It went on to recognize the industry’s Seed Synergy initiative, designed to develop a next-generation seed system for Canada, as an important part of the process. The proposed amendments will be pre-published in the Canada Gazette, Part I, in Winter 2019. A public comment period will be available for Canadians and other interested parties to provide feed- back on the regulatory proposal, CFIA said. CANADA AND GERMANY ANNOUNCE CLOSER PLANT BREEDING TIES The Canadian federal government announced that Canada and Germany will work closer together in four areas of agricultural research: •  Sustainable agriculture and climate change, particu- larly in the areas of protecting soil and water and breeding crops that are more resistant to the effects of climate change; •  Agri-food, including crop breeding for nutrition and health and reducing food waste and loss; •  Sharing best management practices for knowledge and technology transfer to farmers and industry; and •  Personnel exchange, including exchanges of scien- tists and students between Canada and Germany to build on opportunities for collaboration. Germany continues to be a significant trading part- ner for Canada and is growing in importance both as an export destination and as a source of imports. PLANT HEALTH STRATEGY GIVES ATTENTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE, NEW TECHNOLOGIES A draft Plant and Animal Health Strategy for Canada was released by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) Plant and Animal Health Strategy Team. It was drafted together by governments, industry and others who play a role in safeguarding plant and animal health, and proposes to deliver a “more agile and forward-look- ing, and better structured and coordinated” approach to issues around plant health in Canada. To read the full draft report visit: http://inspection.gc.ca/about-the-cfia/ accountability/consultations-and- engagement/pahs/draft-for-consulta- tion-purposes/eng/. BUSINESS DLF PICKSEED CANADA TO ACQUIRE MOORE SEEDS DLF Pickseed Canada announces it will acquire Moore Seeds. Moore Seeds, located in Debolt, Alta., has significant market share presence in the Peace River turfgrass and forage crop seed production area, with sales across the Canadian, U.S. and European export markets. Financial details were not disclosed. CHINESE COMPETITION AUTHORITY GREEN- LIGHTS CHEMCHINA’S ACQUISITION OF SYNGENTA The China National Chemical Corporation, known as ChemChina, and Syngenta announced that they have received approval from the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China for the proposed acquisition of Syngenta by ChemChina. At $43 billion, it’s the largest foreign acquisition by a Chinese company. In a statement, the companies noted that this approval represents another step toward clos- ing the transaction. THESTRATEGY PROPOSES TODELIVERA “MOREAGILE ANDFORWARD- LOOKING, ANDBETTER STRUCTURED AND COORDINATED” APPROACH